Round a Square Table

赵雪 (Zhào Xuě) – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

2nd “一带一路” (“One Belt One Road”) Women’s World Chess Summit; time control: 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; 西安 (Xī’ān)/chess.com, December 4, 2020

Queen’s Indian Defence E12

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. g3 Bb4 6. Bg2 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Be4 8. Ba3?! This and the next move constitute a new idea, but hardly a good one. White simply gives up a Pawn without any notable compensation. 8. ... d6 9. c5?! dxc5 10. Qa4+ Bc6 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Rd1 Qe7 13. 0-0 0-0 14. Rfe1 Be4 15. Qc1 Rfd8 16. h3 h6 17. Bf1 Qe8 18. Qf4 cxd4 19. cxd4 c5 20. Nd2 e5 21. dxe5 Qxe5 22. Qxe5 Nxe5 23. Nxe4. White must content herself with the Platonic satisfaction of having two Bishops against two Knights, which, however, does not compensate at all for the Pawn minus. But no better was 23. Bb2? on account of 23. ... Rxd2! 24. Rxd2 Nc4 winning material. 23. ... Nxe4 24. Bg2 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Nc3 26. Rd2 Re8

27. Bb2? This oversight loses almost instantly. But in any case, after 27. Rc2 Nb5 28. Bb2 Nd6 Black remains a Pawn up, with a powerful Queenside Pawn majority. 27. ... Nc4 0 : 1.

Pictured from left to right are 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí), 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 赵雪 (Zhào Xuě), and 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié), seated at their “spot” in the gymnasium of the 西安市铁一中学 (Xī’ān Tiěyī Middle School). Photo: jksx.org.cn.